1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sound recording system and, more particularly, to one for use with an electronic still camera.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, an electronic still camera has been developed which employs a charge coupled device (CCD) or like solid-state image pickup device and a magnetic disc or like small-sized magnetic storage medium in combination. An image picked up by the still camera of the type described is written into the magnetic medium in the form of video signals which well adapt themselves to a television system. This kind of image, therefore, is suitable for being displayed as a still picture on a soft copy display device or processed into a hard copy by an image recording device such as an ink jet printer or a laser beam electrophotographic recorder.
While reproducing an image in the form of a soft copy or a hard copy, one may desire to hear sound associated with the scene such as a narration or a piece of music. One may further desire to shoot a scene while picking up sound occurring therearound and reproduce the sound together with the scene. This demand, however, encounters a conflict that while a shot of a scene is instantaneous, sound associated with the shot has a time axis which must be reproduced dynamically in the event of reproduction.
Narration or music associated with a still picture may be simply postrecorded to have correspondence with a video signal which represents the still picture. A problem, however, exists in recording sound emitted in a scene from the standpoint of its correspondence with the scene. For example, if the recording system is automatically triggered by the depression of a release button of the camera, sound cannot be recorded except for a period after the shot. Recording sound before and after a shot will naturally furnish the resulting picture with greater realism at the time of reproduction. However, because the depression of the release button is not of the scheduled nature at all, sound before and after a shot cannot be picked up unless the device is constantly kept in operation. This not only consumes the recording medium more than necessary but obliges one to carry out troublesome work for editing the used recording medium to provide it correspondence with the successive pictures.